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Texas Tech football donor Cody Campbell to co-chair college sports commission: Reports
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- Texas Tech football donor Cody Campbell to co-chair college sports commission: Reports
Cody Campbell, chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents and a founding board member of Texas Tech's Matador Club donor collective, is expected to add another role soon.
Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and Campbell are expected to co-chair President Donald Trump's commission on college sports. That's according to multiple reports late Wednesday by national college football writers, including On3's Pete Nakos.
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Campbell didn't immediately respond to a cell-phone message.
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Yahoo Sports reported Trump's intent to create a college sports commission to look at issues such as frequent player movement via the NCAA transfer portal, unregulated booster payments to athletes, whether athletes can or should be employees, how Title IX fits in and how to preserve the Olympic sports model. Saban has been a harsh critic of the current state of college athletics.
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Campbell also has expressed concerns, though he's become the face of The Matador Club, whose financial outlays to attract and retain talent have helped Texas Tech sports — particularly football, men's basketball, softball and track and field — benefit from the new college sports model.
Texas Tech University System Board of Regents Chairman Cody Campbell listens to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speak to other Texas Tech leaders at the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Cotton Classification Complex on April 16, 2025
Campbell has written three columns this year for The Federalist. The first was headlined, "Only Congress and the President Can Save College Sports". In it, he wrote, "We are one court ruling away from complete chaos."
"The challenge is much bigger than just name, image, and license agreements (NIL) and the transfer portal," Campbell wrote. "Saving college sports this time will require comprehensive federal legislation that touches some of the most complex areas of law. This gives Congress and the Trump administration an opportunity to manifest leadership that will sustain our intercollegiate athletics system for another 120 years. "
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Saban and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), the former Texas Tech football coach, met with Trump last week before the president's commencement speech at Alabama, expressing their concerns about the state of college athletics. The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported, and USA TODAY Sports confirmed, that Trump is considering an executive order that would address NIL payments to college athletes.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech's Cody Campbell to co-lead college sports panel: Reports
